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W3-Markup Slices PSD to HTML and CSS

So, you’ve got a kick-ass idea for how your new website should look and you have it all designed in PhotoShop. Unfortunately, you don’t know the first thing about HTML and CSS, so you really have no clue how to convert your design into any sort of usable web code. This is precisely where a service like that offered by W3-Markup comes into the picture. As you’ll soon find out in this review, they may know their stuff, but W3-Markup also has its limitations.

Why Hire W3 to Code Your Site?

Even if you are reasonably familiar with CSS/HTML production and how to convert a PSD file into something that can work for the web, it can be a time-consuming and frustrating experience. At least, that’s what W3-Markup says on their page that answers the question of why you should choose them. They promise that they will deliver what you need with hand-coded production using any style that you want. They guarantee on-time delivery and they are able to offer a fast turn-around.

In addition to coding your website, W3-Markup is also able to offer “numerous core competencies to more quickly grow your site to profitability.” These include social media marketing, conversion rate optimization, copywriting, user experience web design, and Linux web hosting. They say that they are able to help you save time and earn more. “It’s money in your pocket.”

Where Have I Seen Their Work Before?

When looking at web designers and coders, it’s always important to check out some of their previous work. This gives you a good indication of what they are capable of doing and gives you better peace of mind that they will be able to handle your project. Looking at the examples page, we discover that W3-Markup has worked with a wide variety of companies and individuals, including our good friend Neil Patel.

I’m assuming that all the customers featured in the examples section volunteered to be featured as such, because when you click on one of the examples, like Neil Patel’s QuickSprout, you are greeted with the design of the site, as well as the raw HTML/CSS code for the design. Doesn’t this just make copying the design so much easier?

It should be noted that while W3-Markup is perfectly happy to convert your Adobe Illustrator, Fireworks, or Photoshop artwork into CSS/HTML code (and optionally coding it for various content management systems), they don’t design websites. They say that they want to focus on code production only.

What about Customer Support?

There are no fewer than three ways to get in touch with the W3-Markup team. They have a company blog that doesn’t appear to be updated very often. Presumably, this is where they are going to post any sort of company news and announcements that may be of interest to current and potential customers.

The second option is the live chat. This, of course, only works when there is actually someone on the other end. The third and final option is through the contact form, where you will also be able to find their 888 phone number. Having a toll-free number really adds to the professionalism. Strangely, there do not appear to be any names on the W3-Markup site at all. It’s such a faceless entity.

How Much Does It Cost?

Slicing PSD into HTML doesn’t come cheap. Considering that you’ll still need to do all the designing yourself, W3-Markup is not exactly one of the cheapest options out there. Going to the submit order page, you can customize your order and get a precise price quote. A single page with a 7-day turnaround costs $139. Bump that to a one-day turnaround and it’ll cost you $369. Additional pages come in at the same price, but they may be a multiple page discount applied as well.

That price provides you with the basic HTML and CSS files. Beyond this, you can add options like liquid layout width ($14), Safari compatiblity ($9), drop-down menu navigation ($9), and favicon creation ($19). As you can tell, these layout, coding, and advanced options really start to add up. Getting the code in a form other than XHMTL/CSS also costs extra. For example, translating the code into a WordPress theme comes in at a $279 premium. You can see how a single design with a few options and WordPress integration can easily run you as much as $1000. You get a 5% discount for full payment up front. Otherwise, you need to provide a 50% deposit.

While I appreciate the professionalism presented by W3-Markup, I find it unfortunate that they don’t have any in-house design services and the various “options” almost sound like they’re trying to nickel and dime you. That said, you probably get what you pay for. W3-Markup seems like they have some pretty happy customers, including Microsoft!

51 thoughts on “W3-Markup Slices PSD to HTML and CSS”

I’ve seen companies like W3-Markup popping up all over, but none with the visibility that W3 has. I personally don’t see a problem with them not offering design services. That is not their function. If you want a design service you can find that anywhere.

I do agree however, with you John that the “options” they offer do appear to be “nickel and diming” people. Anybody who knows anything about html/css knows that favicon creation is not worth $19!

That’s a brilliant idea for a service, I personally know many designer who needs coders all the time, and they always complain about the freelancers because they don’t do exactly what they’re being payed for.
W3-Markup created the service for people who doesn’t know anything about coding and who are willing to pay for this kind of service. If you know how to do the favicon of course it’s not worth to pay $19 for it however someone that has no idea it’d sound fair.

I have to agree with you on the pricing. I just checked them the other day and I was actually shocked to find out that centering a layout has an additional $9 cost or that using em fonts instead of pt/px should be charged $9 more. Those are some basic things that each website should have already included as basic plan, but whatever if people pay I guess.

Thing is Cory, I wouldn’t say that turning “a” design into a liquid layout was worth only $19 or whatever silly small amount they reckon. Liquid layouts are difficult, especially if you’ve got equal height columns to consider.

It’s swings and roundabouts and my thinking is that if you understand a bit about XHTML, you could twist W3’s arm into doing an awful lot of work for you for the price.

I have to say, I know their work but I would simply not hire them.
Altought it’s clear they are great at what they do they are simply too expensive for the services they offer.
With a simple search at the right forum I can get the same quality work and save at least $89.

1) I don’t see it as a bad thing that they don’t offer design services. It really comes off as they are “experts” in their field of coding…and since I’d be coming to them as the designer, that’s all I care about. Getting good code.

2) While it may seem like nickle and diming for the options, as a designer, I actually appreciate them being a separate cost. I don’t need every option, and I don’t want to pay for what I don’t need. As long as the initial base price is factored into stripping out the options price, I’m very fine with that.

It does seem like there is cheaper out there, but as long as you can manage a 7 day wait, it seems pretty reasonable. I may give them a shot over PSD2HTML on my next project where I need the services.

They’ve also done Smashing Magazine, which is one of my favorite sites.

This definitely seems to be a good service however since its an established company it’s services ought to be a little more pricey than the prices of freelances. – If you’d like to know how to make some money whilst searching on Google check out the link – it’s 100% legitimate and they pay quite well too – why not get paid for the searches you conduct online? Everyone carries out searches everyday so might aswell monetise it…

Seems counter-intuitive that someone would design a template for WordPress and then pay over $1,000 to have it coded when you can have have someone from Unique Blog Designs design a template for far cheaper.

They are a bit expensive , but when coming up to our site layout / look / design we should spend some money. As most of us know , people do come back to good , accessible blogs. I would choose Unique blog design to be honest.

The sample sites don’t validate and if you’re paying in the hundreds of dollars that’s not an unreasonable thing to expect.

If you’re already an experienced Photoshop user you might as well buy the Sitegrinder plug-in that does the same thing. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the cheaper PSD to website “services” out there were using Sitegrinder to do the heavy lifting.

I’m seeing these companies pop up like pennies, but they’re charging too much. You can find way cheaper companies that actually do validate [like someone else, I also noticed that the sample sites don’t validate.]

Another alternative for those who don’t know coding but are adept in Photoshop, and don’t have super high technical needs for their site is to try out site grinder at http://www.medialab.com/sitegrinder/

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